Structured Courses as a Strategy for Rural Development: A Case Study of the Kenya Farmer Training Centres.

Mulusa, Thomas

Using library search, structured interviews, mail questionnaires, and personal observations, Kenya's Farmer Training Centre (FTC) Program (a 30-year old experimental rural development strategy) was assessed in terms of its curriculum. How structured courses are utilized within the FTC program should be of interest to administrators, trainers, and curriculum developers. Nonformal education enterprises, the FTC included, have grown out of the same bedrock of curriculum theory as formal education; principles and methods developed for the one are relevant to the other. It was found that FTC objectives had not been clearly specificed at national, regional, or institutional levels. The Ministry of Agriculture had failed to implement crucial reforms. Trainers showed lack of essential background information about their trainees, complacency concerning the nature of the FTC curriculum, and little commitment to remaining in the program. A major reorganization of the farmer training effort should be implemented which would reach larger numbers of small scale farmers and provide more relevant education than do existing small scale FTCs. The FTCs would become staff development and resource centers for the agricultural extension system in the proposed model. (BRR)